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<title>The Fire by Cheeky_The_Monkey</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27032818">The Fire</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheeky_The_Monkey/pseuds/Cheeky_The_Monkey'>Cheeky_The_Monkey</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fire, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:47:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>825</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27032818</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheeky_The_Monkey/pseuds/Cheeky_The_Monkey</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a scene that is part of my upcoming novel, Apples &amp; Knives. I haven’t gotten up to actually writing this part so it’s a very rough rushed first draft! The 3 characters (Richard, Tom and Skylar) are all paid external specialists for a gang known as Fortis. Their codenames are Raven, Gentleman and Whisper respectively They met each other for the first time after being tricked by a member of Fortis and locked in a warehouse, where they found a woman bound to a chair which that Fortis member used as a hostage to lure them in.</p>
<p>Written for Whumptober 2020! Day 14 Prompt: Fire</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951183</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Fire</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So, now what?” Asked Tom, his hands on his hips. “I don’t appreciate being lured into abandoned warehouses this late at night- um, morning… whatever time it is!”</p>
<p>Richard scoffed. “Oh really? I thought the <i>Gentleman</i> would usually be doing other things around this time!”</p>
<p>Despite the many rumours surrounding him, Gentleman had the decency to blush.</p>
<p>“That’s- that’s not…” He let out a small sigh followed by a chuckle. “I can’t tell if you’re insulting me or flirting with me.”</p>
<p>“Oh, well let me shed some light on-”</p>
<p>“Uh, guys?”</p>
<p>Both men looked towards Whisper, who had finished untying the poor woman in the chair and was facing the far corner of the warehouse. A corner that was currently being illuminated by steadily rising flames.</p>
<p>Richard’s heart stopped. He found himself frozen as he stared, transfixed, as the flames engulfed the remains of the paper stores and began to travel around the perimeter of the warehouse, trapping them.</p>
<p>Tom gasped. “This is a trap! He- He <i>tricked</i> me, the bas-”</p>
<p><i>“Really?”</i> Richard snarled unsympathetically. “You work for bloody Fortis and you can’t tell you’re being trapped until you’re pretty much dead! Congratulations!”</p>
<p>He could have been kinder, but he was panicking. He’d done the one thing he’d promised himself he wouldn’t do: fall victim to one of Cotton’s games.</p>
<p>But he’d brought an innocent woman into the mix and that, in the eyes of both Richard and Raven, was cheating.</p>
<p>“R-Right, okay.” Whisper- Skylar- reassured herself quietly. “Boys, I need you to try and get her-” she gestured at the poor unconscious woman on the chair- “awake. I’ll try and find us a way out of here.”</p>
<p>Despite having only just met her, she had one of those commanding voices that made one instinctively obey. So as the circle of fire began to close in on them, Richard and Tom sprinted towards the hostage.</p>
<p>“Ma’am?” Tom whispered into her ear, shaking her gently. <i>“Ma’am!”</i></p>
<p>Richard looked around nervously. “Ma’am, can you hear us?”</p>
<p>Tom shook a bit more violently as the heat around them started to become unbearable. “Ma’am!”</p>
<p>Richard slapped her cheek softly. <i>“Ma’am!”</i></p>
<p>“Ma’am!”</p>
<p>“Ma’am, we’re on fire, you need to wake up now!”</p>
<p>“BRITBOYS!” Skylar called from near one of the walls. “COME HE-” She then broke into a violent coughing fit from her proximity to the smoke, and decided to instead use her arms to wildly beckon them.</p>
<p>Having no luck with the woman, both men weaved their way around the flames to reach her.</p>
<p>Her face was bright red and there were multiple beads of sweat rolling down her face. Maybe some were tears. They couldn’t tell, smoke was obscuring their vision.</p>
<p>“Up there!” Her voice was gruff and she motioned to a grate above her. “A v-vent,” she coughed, “if I can get up there I can pull you guys and her up.”</p>
<p>“Alright!” Richard nodded, having to shout to get his voice heard of the crackling of the fire. He bent down, being the tallest by far among them.</p>
<p>It took Gentleman a few extra seconds to register what was happening, before he nodded too. “I’ll go get her!”</p>
<p>He turned and fled backwards to where the elderly woman’s form was still slumped over the chair. </p>
<p>In the meantime, (a tall but skinny) Richard tried to hold (a short but muscular) Skylar on his shoulders. It took him a good few seconds to keep his balance, and it took her a few tries at jumping, but she managed to tear off the grate and crawl into the vent.</p>
<p>No sooner had she done so was there a deafening boom behind her. A huge wave of scorching air followed it. Unable to turn her head backwards, she screamed.</p>
<p>
  <i>“RAVEN! RAVEN, WHAT HAPPENED?!”</i>
</p>
<p>Raven’s muffled voice came shouting back at her. <i>“N-NEAR THE BACK! T-TOM!”</i></p>
<p>
  <i>“RAVEN CLIMB UP! IT’S TOO LATE, COME ON!”</i>
</p>
<p>For a few seconds, there was nothing but the sizzling of the flames filling her ears. </p>
<p>She thought that something must have happened to Raven, but his voice eventually called: <i>“I’M GOING TO LOOK FOR HIM! YOU GO!”</i></p>
<p>Not willing to stay in her position for any longer, Skylar rapidly began to shuffle forwards through the vent. The metal was already searing her skin and she needed to get out. She could only presume the woman and Gentleman were dead, and Raven was about to join them.</p>
<p>She’d almost finished pushing the outer grate off when there was a louder, bigger boom behind her, followed by another blast of boiling air that frazzled her entire body while pushing it through the grate and onto the cool concrete below, knocking her unconscious.</p>
<p>Further away, Oscar Cotton smirked.</p>
<p>Raven, Gentleman and Whisper. The assassin, the spy and the thief, all in one go. All it took was a bit of manipulation and lighter fluid.</p>
<p>With them finally out of the way, he could start to enact his plan.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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